I have a hard time distinguishing the exact moment I realized that I wanted to be a teacher. Even in elementary school, I found myself thinking about how I would do things differently from certain teachers and what I wanted to emulate from others. I loved going to school and I always wanted to help my teachers in any way, whether it was just putting chairs up or passing out papers. Oddly enough though, I wasn't the best student by any means. I was stubborn and would never complete an assignment if I thought that it wasn't worth my time and I hardly studied because I assumed that if I was meant to understand it, I could figure it out.
It wasn't until 9th grade that I began to work a little harder. The previous year had been my first experience with a biology oriented science class and I loved it. I began to read books about science both in school and at the library. My family bought me many books as well. Once I had begun to really do well in science class, I had my first experience with bullying. I was made fun of for knowing answers, for asking questions, and for reading on my own time. It was both confusing and shocking to me.
Through high school, I continued to take as many science classes as my school offered and it was my only honors track up until I was moved up in math junior year. The biology teachers at my school were some of the most amazing people I have ever met. My 10th grade biology teacher was a retired Providence fire fighter. He was full of real world stories and wisdom, had a classroom full of plants, multiple tanks with unusual fish in them, and always let the class dress up the skeleton in the front of the room. My 11th and 12th grade biology teacher (Environmental Biology and Biology II) was a woman who was pre-med back in college and took a great interest in teaching us about the human body. She was able to obtain grants from Brown so that we could use college-level equipment for our labs and this is when I first began to get really excited about going to college to study biology.
Many members of my family told me that I should do pre-med, become a veterinarian, or join some other field in biology but I knew when I applied to URI that what I really wanted to do was teach it to other students. My reasoning has always been that I want to make a difference. If I become a doctor, then I am just one doctor. But if I inspire or help students maintain their interest in science, I could help many of them become doctors, vets, and biologists. I also watched too many instances of bullying growing up and never felt that I could do anything to help. With the aid of technology, bullying has become such a big part of our world today and I want to help students hold onto their interests and goals and show them what can be beyond high school.
It wasn't until 9th grade that I began to work a little harder. The previous year had been my first experience with a biology oriented science class and I loved it. I began to read books about science both in school and at the library. My family bought me many books as well. Once I had begun to really do well in science class, I had my first experience with bullying. I was made fun of for knowing answers, for asking questions, and for reading on my own time. It was both confusing and shocking to me.
Through high school, I continued to take as many science classes as my school offered and it was my only honors track up until I was moved up in math junior year. The biology teachers at my school were some of the most amazing people I have ever met. My 10th grade biology teacher was a retired Providence fire fighter. He was full of real world stories and wisdom, had a classroom full of plants, multiple tanks with unusual fish in them, and always let the class dress up the skeleton in the front of the room. My 11th and 12th grade biology teacher (Environmental Biology and Biology II) was a woman who was pre-med back in college and took a great interest in teaching us about the human body. She was able to obtain grants from Brown so that we could use college-level equipment for our labs and this is when I first began to get really excited about going to college to study biology.
Many members of my family told me that I should do pre-med, become a veterinarian, or join some other field in biology but I knew when I applied to URI that what I really wanted to do was teach it to other students. My reasoning has always been that I want to make a difference. If I become a doctor, then I am just one doctor. But if I inspire or help students maintain their interest in science, I could help many of them become doctors, vets, and biologists. I also watched too many instances of bullying growing up and never felt that I could do anything to help. With the aid of technology, bullying has become such a big part of our world today and I want to help students hold onto their interests and goals and show them what can be beyond high school.